Is Weight Genetic or Should We Blame Technology?

One of my favorite questions to ask my husband after a long, hard day of work is "What did you learn today?" Sometimes he thinks I'm crazy, but he comes up with an answer.

The age-old saying is true: "we learn something new every day". Whether it is fact or fiction, we add content to our ever-going list of information in our minds on a daily basis.

For example, today I learned that 40% of an individual's body weight could be blamed on genetics. I heard this from someone else so I decided to check it out. Through a simple Google search I found that the majority of health-related companies agree that our genes do contribute to our weight. On www.weightawareness.com they say, "In some cases of genetic coding, a person is destined to have trouble with their weight. In other cases, it is the combination of genetic coding and the person's behavior or environment which contribute to the overweight, obese or morbidly obese condition". Still I didn't find any information to support that 40% of our weight is due to genetics, so I looked further.

Turns out, maybe what I learned today was wrong. "About 50 percent of adult onset weight change remains genetic," says James C. Romeis, Ph.D., professor of health services research at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. Can we blame half of our continuous weight battle on genetics? I bet millions of overweight Americans feel better reading this because now it's not all their fault! This is NOT a good way to think.

Through my research, I came across some opinions from nutritionists and doctors that believe our environment is to blame for our weight. In fact, on www.bodyfatguide.com Ron Brown, weight management expert, claims the reason so many people fail to achieve their dream figure is not because of genetics. "It's because no one is teaching these people the principles of weight management." This statement leads me to believe there are several other factors that make us fat. Not only does our upbringing contribute to how or what we eat today, but technology certainly does not allow us to be as active as we used to be.

Upon further review of this subject, I feel we can certainly blame our genetics for obesity in America, but we can also prove that lack of exercise plays a large role. Most of our world revolves around computers and cell phones, making communication faster and activity slower.

Take a moment to think about what you learned today. It stimulates the brain and makes for great conversation!